Tuesday, 27 November 2018

5 things you're not obliged to do at Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner many people will be getting excited for the most wonderful time of the year, but for others they will be filled with dread at the thought of creating a perfect Christmas and trying to please everyone. So today we're going to be discussing five things that you shouldn't feel you have to do this Christmas.

Spend a lot of money

Christmas is expensive. From food and drink to presents, Christmas trees and even increased utility bills. But you don't have to spend a fortune to have a nice Christmas though, spend within your budget and don't try and stretch yourself or you'll just end up feeling miserable with the pressure of it all. Shop at budget supermarkets for your festive food and drink and make sure you have a Christmas presents budget (and actually stick to it!) You don't need to spend lots of money on presents to try and prove to family how much you love them, they already know!

Buy presents for everyone

You don't need to buy for everyone in your family it's just not necessary. Don't feel like you have to spend money on every family member because you don't. When our second niece came along we made the decision to no longer buy for our siblings and only spend on the children, of course our siblings understood so don't ever feel pressure to buy lots of presents.

Have family over/visit family

A lot of people see Christmas as family time which can put a hell of a lot of pressure on people who just aren't big on family time or have their own families that they want to spend time with. This can be anything from now having your own children or just wanting to spend Christmas as a couple if you don't have kids. When Josh and I moved in together we both agreed that we would never start the whole having one set of parents round for dinner one year, another the next and so on. Both Josh and I's parents are separated and if we start it, it'll never end. That's not how we want to spend Christmas so we're not doing it. You are absolutely not obliged to have family over or visit family if that's not what you want.

Go out on New Year's Eve

Why is it that there's so much pressure to see in the New Year in the most spectacular way that usually involves getting really drunk? We haven't been out for New Year in about 6 years now and I love my New Year's Eves at home with a couple of drinks and some party food. If going out isn't your thing, you absolutely don't have to.

Reflect on how great the past year has been

I've always wrote a blog post looking back at the previous year and I'll probably do the same this year. Even though it hasn't been a great year, they're are a couple of moments I'd like to highlight and remember. I think it's super important to remember though that what you see on social media is very heavily edited, people often choose to only show the good, especially when it comes to things like New Year reflection posts. Don't ever feel pressure to create your own reflection posts or to even like and comment on those that friends and family create if you're not in the right place to do so.

Christmas should be about making yourself happy, there are no rules and trust me when I say, you will never have a more perfect Christmas than when you start celebrating how you want to not how you think you should.